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A review by adam613
Laughter in the Dark by Vladimir Nabokov
4.0
"Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster."
How gutsy a writer do you have to be to tell the reader in the first sentence what the entire story is about and then spend the whole book still leaving the reader not really knowing what happened? Laughter in the Dark is my first venture into Vladimir Nabokov territory and man, could this guy ever write. Wistful and vehement in nature, Laughter in the Dark is filled with selfish characters and volatile emotions leading to broken homes, broken hearts and loss of life. Albinus is a well to do middle aged man with a family and a settled life seeking thrill and passion in the form of young female attention. All the while completing ignoring the dangers that Margot brings to his life, what ensues is nothing short of tragic and obvious right from the start. This entire novel is like a slow motion car accident waiting to happen, and you can't look away due to the chaotic beauty in the colourful mess and knowledge of impending doom. With Laughter in the Dark, Nabokov has written a brilliant tale of deadly sins filled with wicked prose showing restrained zest and notably sympathetic characters. Suspenseful and poetic from start to finish that will leave you reeling for days.
Here are some of my favourite quotes.
"One can't build up one's life on the quicksands of misfortune. That is a sin against life."
"But no matter how tender and thoughtful he was in his love-making, she knew, all along, that for her it would always be love minus something, whereas the least touch of her first lover had always been a sample of everything."
"A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish - but there was no diamond inside. That's what I like about coincidence."
"Death seems to be merely a bad habit, which nature is at present powerless to overcome. Death often is the point of life's joke."
"The past was safe in its cage. Why not have a look?"
How gutsy a writer do you have to be to tell the reader in the first sentence what the entire story is about and then spend the whole book still leaving the reader not really knowing what happened? Laughter in the Dark is my first venture into Vladimir Nabokov territory and man, could this guy ever write. Wistful and vehement in nature, Laughter in the Dark is filled with selfish characters and volatile emotions leading to broken homes, broken hearts and loss of life. Albinus is a well to do middle aged man with a family and a settled life seeking thrill and passion in the form of young female attention. All the while completing ignoring the dangers that Margot brings to his life, what ensues is nothing short of tragic and obvious right from the start. This entire novel is like a slow motion car accident waiting to happen, and you can't look away due to the chaotic beauty in the colourful mess and knowledge of impending doom. With Laughter in the Dark, Nabokov has written a brilliant tale of deadly sins filled with wicked prose showing restrained zest and notably sympathetic characters. Suspenseful and poetic from start to finish that will leave you reeling for days.
Here are some of my favourite quotes.
"One can't build up one's life on the quicksands of misfortune. That is a sin against life."
"But no matter how tender and thoughtful he was in his love-making, she knew, all along, that for her it would always be love minus something, whereas the least touch of her first lover had always been a sample of everything."
"A certain man once lost a diamond cuff-link in the wide blue sea, and twenty years later, on the exact day, a Friday apparently, he was eating a large fish - but there was no diamond inside. That's what I like about coincidence."
"Death seems to be merely a bad habit, which nature is at present powerless to overcome. Death often is the point of life's joke."
"The past was safe in its cage. Why not have a look?"